


One last time

by Trtrtrtr



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-08
Updated: 2018-05-08
Packaged: 2019-05-04 00:12:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14580717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Trtrtrtr/pseuds/Trtrtrtr
Summary: There was no hurt in being a little bit dreamy, right?





	One last time

**Author's Note:**

> There is not enough Steve and Natasha in IW so I wrote this :D.
> 
> I’m sorry for any mistakes I’ve made.

 

 

They stayed in Wakanda. The Wakandian had accommodated them with enough rooms and food to regain their composure, until they shaped up a plan to recreate half of the universe.

Yeah.

Half of the universe.

They had turned to dust after a snap of one purple alien’s fingers. That was not a jest. That was not New York all over again. That was something else. Something more terrifying and appalling.

Earth now was a mess. People didn’t know what was happening to their family, their friends, their neighbor, their fellow-citizen, since they all disappeared in front of their own eyes. It was not long until they found out about the lost battle the Avengers had fought and thinking about it, worrying about how people might be going to react made the matter ten times worse.

They had never failed earth before. They had failed each other, the wound from the accord and Siberia was still fresh and bleeding as a raw proof. But not earth. They were believed to defend it whenever a threat showed up. That was their job. That was what they were supposed to do, assembled to do.

Not failing.

Not losing.

And they lost nonetheless.

Was it their fault? Not really. But the guilt was still there, like it always was.

It was six infinity stones for God’s sake. The knowledge about what it could do was still dubious but surely it could erase half of humanity. How could they defeat that?

Their enemies forever lurked in the dark and this time, they would not stand a chance if they kept showing themself in the light.

Time to switch positions, it seemed.

They had contacted Clint and Lang had reached them first. The Government was not the thing they had to deal with right now since it wasn’t Mister Secretary who had made a call to them this evening but Everett Ross, to grant them the right to take any action necessary, as long as they could fix this madness.

 

They did have a plan, though.

More like Lang had offered them a plan. A device.

 _A time traveling device._ He said.

Hazardous. But not impossible. Now they knew who Thanos was, now they knew it was him who had sent Loki to earth, kindled him to start the attack on New York, what he really aim for. Then when was the better time to kill him than right when it all started, right when they had two infinity stones on their hands.

Yet it didn’t mean the mission was any less dangerous.

One wrong move and they would mess up years of human history. One wrong move and they would be stuck in the past and never coming back. But since when did they stop taking risk?

Tomorrow, Thor would travel to a planet called Titan to get Tony back. He and some Nebula girl had managed to send a message to the rabbit (Thor called him the rabbit but Natasha didn’t think so, he looked more like a fox to her standard).

Bruce was burying himself in Shuri’s lab, trying to figure out a way to repair Vision. And as it turned out, Vision was more than just a stone. Perhaps, what left of him was somehow the best parts of him, just like Bruce had said. The combination of world’s most brilliant minds was not that easily whopped, after all.

And the rest of them, they needed rest. Or that was what they had promised to do as they had gone back to their room. But who was they kidding? Natasha was sure that in the next morning, the dark circles under their eyes and the haunted look would still be there, no matter how many rest time they took.

But tomorrow would be a long day so that was how Natasha ended up Steve’s given room.

Over the years, especially after that shitty accord, she found in Steve something more than just a friend. A friend with benefits, some people might say, but that was not what they were to each other. Life of fugitive criminals had been rough, but sometimes, it would have given you enough opportunity to realize what had been laid out in front of your eyes, who had always been there, for you.

Of course, Natasha had rejected it at first. It had been supposed to be just one night of comforting, to ease all the distress and tautness their bodies and minds had had to go through in those tough months. But Steve hadn’t stopped coming back and she, well, she hadn’t made any move to stop him doing so either, so they had became a thing.

But Natasha had still been Natasha, with all the self-doubt and self-contempt and all that, had refused him at his fifth night of nocking at her door.

 _“You shouldn’t be with someone like me.”_ She had told him.

It wasn’t that she hadn’t wanted what they had been having. Gods. She had wanted it, needed it, desired it even. It was just she was Natasha. A Natasha who had been a former KGB assassin, who had had a ledger painted with red and lasted too long she’d thought even spending the rest of her life doing good things would have never been enough to wipe out all of it.

And he had been Captain America. The righteous man, the man who had deserved better than what she could have offered.

They couldn’t be together.

They shouldn’t be together.

She had told him that and him, he had just rolled his eyes at that.

 _“Are you rolling your eyes at me, Steve?”_ She had asked him, with an annoyance she hadn’t even bothered to cover up.

 _“Yes. I am.”_ That'd earned him an elbow in the rib. Apparently one year being on the run had given him some nerves.

_“Ouch!”_

She’d been about to close her door in anger as he’d lunged forward, shoving her further inside her room. She’d heard him said:

_“First, I don’t care whatever you did in the past. Second, you need to stop thinking about whatever going through your mind, it’s not true you and I both know that. Third, I won’t do anything if I don’t want to do it, understand?”_

_“What if I don’t?”_ Okay, he could have been a demanding jerk, but he had forgotten that she too could have been stubborn sometimes.

_“Then I will make you understand.”_

She hadn’t understood what he’d meant when saying so, but she had, as soon as he’d sealed her lips with his.

Oh, and made her understand, he had. She’d thought she should have rewarded herself a medal if she’d still been able to think of anything after a few hours doing what they had done, though.

Apparently one year being on the run had taught him something else, too. Something useful, at least.

It felt right. Being with him. It made more sense when she laid in his arms like that.

When Sam had found out, he had just nodded his head and given them his signature smirk.

_“I told you man, you should go for it sooner.”_

When Wanda had found out, she hadn’t said any particular thing. Instead, after a few weeks, she’d gone to Natasha, asking for dating advices.

And that was it, a deeper reason how she ended up in Steve’s given room, one night before they had to do their job, saving the world.

He held her close in his arms with her back press against his front. People called it cuddling and she never allowed Steve to call it that. The Black Widow did not do cuddle.

 _“Nat”_ He was anxious, she could tell.

_“Yes?”_

_“If we couldn’t make it…”_ He struggled. His breath lingered in her hair.

He hadn’t said anything about it yet, but she knew he was in pain.

Bucky had vanished, among half of their universe. How much it hurt him, seeing Bucky turning to dust, she could only imagine.

_“We will.”_

_We will._ They had to believe.

 _“What if Tony isn’t ready to talk to me yet?”_ He continued after a long, long pause.

 _Tony_. She and Steve hadn’t talked to him since that day, the day when he’d found out the truth about the murder of his parents. They checked in with Vision, let him know their whereabouts, and Tony sure acknowledged about it but they hadn’t officially talked to short things out between them.

Steve might have said they had not been looking for forgiveness and they had way pasted asking permission, but deep down, she knew the only one who they needed the forgiveness from was Tony. Natasha and Steve would not dream of the day Tony forgot what they had done to him because they didn’t deserve it. But Tony was more than what others often credited him.

_“He will understand, Steve. He will beat our ass later, but he will understand.”_

_“Bruce is back.”_ Another question after another long, long pause.

 _“Yes, he is.”_ She hoped she had answered him enough by that. Bruce was back. Things got a bit awkward, but that was all. She wasn’t that type of woman, drawing on someone for too long. And more importantly, she already found someone who wanted her back now, so what was the matter?

 _“Okay. Then if we make it out,”_ that sounded more like the Steve she knew, optimistic, _“will you be with me?”_

Well, she really didn’t expect that, however, she couldn’t hold back her happy smile. He was asking her.

 _“I… I’m, uhm… tired, Nat. All this. Fighting and fighting and then fighting again. It never seems to hit a stop. And I don’t want to just be a man who couldn’t live without a fight. So, uhm… what do you say?”_ If anything, he was pulling her closer to his chest, breathing in the smell of her shampoo.

She was far from happy to say anything, to be honest. And poor Steve, he mistook her silent  joyousness for something else entirely.

 _“I mean, you don’t have to answer right now, you know. You can give it a thought after tomorrow, when everything is done. No need to rush. We, ugh… we don’t need to rush anything. I mean…”_ He was even stammering now. How adorable, seeing him actually nervous.

 _“Shut up, Steve. Do you usually talk that much when you proposing to a woman?”_ She untangled his hand, which was holding firmly around her abdomen, so she could turn to look at his face. She caressed his beard. Natasha had never told Steve that she’d liked him, really really like him, that she had truly appreciated the fact that after all those terrible things she had done, life had somehow still thrown him at her, let him be at her side and let her be at his.

 _“I… I haven’t done it before so…”_ A fidgety captain was quite the view, if she had to admit.

_“Please don’t say no?”_

_“Of course I won’t say no, you big idiot.”_ She grinned at his blue puppy eyes, she could see it shone the moment she voiced those words.

_“That means… you mean?”_

_“Yes. I will be with you.”_

Now she had trouble breathing because he was crushing her with his bear hug.

They stayed that night like that, her in his protected arms.

They could have a future together, all what they had to do was win the upcoming war.

They had suffered a lot, she thought. Their friends, and the people they vowed to protect, who had faith in them were counting on them. An arduous mission still had to be done and a hard-won battle still needed to be fought. But there was no hurt in being a little bit dreamy, right?

So until tomorrow came, they would not mention all their losses, they would not lose their ground because of it. Instead, they would convert the animosity into their wills and use it to fight Thanos.

_If we can’t protect the earth_

_Then you can be damn sure we’ll avenge it._

Just like Tony had said.

Even though the job could get them killed in the process.

Even though it might be the last time the six of them have the chance to fight together.

 

 


End file.
